News

14 June 1940 is considered the date when German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp began its functioning. On that day, the Germans deported from the prison in Tarnów to the Auschwitz camp the group of 728 Poles. Among them were soldiers of the September 1939 campaign, members of underground independence groups, high-school and university students, and a small group of Polish Jews. They received numbers 31 to 758.

On 14 June, a conference will be held at the Auschwitz Memorial on the fate of Polish foresters involved in the resistance movement during World War II and the history of the first transports of Poles to the Nazi German camp of Auschwitz. The programme also includes a discussion with family members of survivors. The entire event will be streamed online with simultaneous English translation.

A group from the Fritz Bauer Institute in Frankfurt am Main, together with the director Prof. Sybilla Steinbarcher, visited the Auschwitz Memorial between 4-6 July.

Auschwitz Museum Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński, PhD, was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria by Dr Alexander Van der Bellen, President of the Federal Republic of Austria. In turn, Deputy Director Rafał Pióro was awarded the Gold Medal of Honour.

The functioning of the Memorial during the recovery from the pandemic was the main subject of a meeting of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Council held on 2 June.

The latest Italian-language publication of the Auschwitz Museum, entitled "L'infanzia rubata. I bambini liberati ad Auschwitz" (Deprived childhood. Children Liberated in Auschwitz), was presented for the first time at this year's Turin Book Fair, the second largest book fair in Europe.